CAN A GUARDIANSHIP BE AWARDED TO A “DE FACTO” OR “PSYCHOLOGICAL” PARENT WHO IS NOT A BIOLOGICAL PARENT?
Yes. “A de facto parent is ‘that person who, on a day-to-day basis, assumes the role of parent, seeking to fulfill both the child’s physical needs and his psychological need for affection and care.’ Letters of guardianship, with specific authority to permit heart catheterization, were issued in favor of non-parents who had formed a relationship with a Downs syndrome minor as daily volunteers at residential facility where he lived, even though the minor had never lived with the non-parents. While courts may appoint guardians for minors where it is “necessary or convenient,” a much stronger showing is required to disturb the natural parents’ custodial rights. Here record contained abundant evidence that parents’ retention of custody would cause emotional harm to child. “[T]he right of parents to retain custody of a child is fundamental and may be disturbed ‘”… only in extreme cases of persons acting in a fashion incompatible with parenthood.”‘ The Legislature has imposed the stringent
